Author Archives
I am a writer and educator in Drama and Theatre Studies. My specialist areas are Shakespeare, particularly with regard to the female characters, dramaturgy and theatre history. Raising a little boy also gives me plenty of cause to reflect on parenting and social justice issues. While my active site is orlandocreature.wordpress.com you can find lots more of my writing archived at Hoyden About Town, under both Anna and my earlier handle, Orlando. Twitter: @orlandocreature
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Friday Hoyden: Edna St Vincent Millay
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends –
It gives a lovely light!I have seen this poem reproduced twice on merchandise, attributed to two different male poets.
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Chivalry
On a whim, I just followed one of the “Related Posts” links at the bottom of today’s Quick Hit from Mindy, and found my way to her earlier link to a post at The Hairpin about a book of poems by Alice Duer Miller, published in 1915.
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The ten questions I would most like Labor MPs to be asking themselves
The often reliable Leigh Sales has a piece in The Drum listing “The ten questions Labor MPs are asking themselves”. Sadly, yet unsurprisingly, all ten pertain to the leadership of the party. Sales doesn’t seem to consider it even a possibility that anyone is allocating any brain space to policy or governing the country. Now, as much as it is a depressing thought, I acknowledge that there is every chance she is right. But as a reporter with a substantial platform, she has a choice about where to direct the conversation. She could, for instance, be inviting responses to these, alternative, questions, that Labor MPs have every reason to be asking themselves.
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Whimsy: Author sucked into own novel wishes he was better at writing women
From the (Onion-like) The Beaverton:
After being magically trapped inside his latest novel, author Kyle Rapoport maligned his inability to properly write and develop female characters. -
Friday Hoyden: Emily Davison
Three days ago marked 100 years since the day Emily Wilding Davison, carrying out a suffragist political protest, was trampled by racehorses at the Epsom Derby and later died. I always heard it told as “threw herself under the King’s horse”, but informed discussion around the incident suggests that I shouldn’t make such a simple, firm statement about what happened. What we must not forget is how brutal the response was to all forms of activism by women demanding something as basic as the vote.
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Our best sign yet that we are doing something right.
Content note: child rape.
Didion at Feminéma, who has just become my new favourite person, has written a response to comments made by Roman Polanski at a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, where he continues to be welcome. -
Shakespeare’s Preoccupations
I thought it would be fun to share my list of things I have noticed Shakespeare does repeatedly, and ask if you have any others.
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Signal Boost: women being prosecuted for retracting domestic violence allegations
From Destroy the Joint, a call for action at NSW state level: call upon the Attorney General Greg Smith to issue a direction to the NSW DPP under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act to ensure that no one is prosecuted solely for retracting an allegation of domestic or sexual violence without the approval of a senior lawyer within the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Update: Attorney-General Greg Smith has made a statement that he has no plans to revise the existing laws relating to this matter. Now is the time to up the pressure. -
Quick link: Adults Who Give Children Guns
From my friend Mel, an Aussie living in Philadelphia:
Adults who give children guns are as bad as adults who give children porn. -
Discussion Thread: Shakespeare Uncovered
The recent import from the BBC 4, Shakespeare Uncovered, is a six-part series in which one well-known public face of the theatre each episode gives an in-depth, personal walk-through a selection from Shakespeare’s plays. Four examine a single play, the… Read More ›
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